Nitish Kumar says Bihar will be bigger loser if he loses assembly polls

Photo: Patrika

Ahead of the upcoming state assembly poll, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar raked controversy when he said that Bihar will be the bigger loser if he loses in the election. "Win or lose, who cares? If I lose, Bihar will be the bigger loser. What do I have to lose?" the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader said at a conclave organised by a leading TV channel in Patna. He also threw up the challenge to openly debate the law and order condition in the state, arguing that 'jungle raj' will not return to the state because of his coalition with Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party.

Congress to seek ban on Mann ki baat ahead of Bihar polls

Photo: Patrika

The Congress has sought a meeting with the Election Commission to ask for a ban on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's radio show Mann ki baat ahead of the Bihar elections.

The Congress sees the programme as a violation of the model code of conduct. Polls in Bihar begin in less than a month with the first phase scheduled for 12 October. The Congress wants the show to be taken off air till 8 November, when the elections end. Such a demand comes even as the the Prime Minister plans to include voice messages from listeners on the show on 20 September, Sunday.

First arrest made in Govind Pansare murder case

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Seven months after he was gunned down by unknown assailants, an arrest has been made in the Govind Pansare murder case.According to NDTV, the arrested man has been identified as Sameer Gaikwad.

This CPI leader battled conservative forces for a long time and paid for it with his life. Months after the murder of rationalist leader Narendra Dabholkar, Pansare received a letter that warned him "tumcha Dabholkar karen (you will meet the fate of Dabholkar)". He was shot at on February 16, in Kolhapur while on his morning walk, accompanied by his wife. He died four days later.

The Delhi government has sprung into action to tackle the worrying outbreak of dengue in the capital that has claimed 11 lives and affected around 1800 people.

Furthermore, Delhi government hospitals will continue conducting free tests for dengue. Private hospitals can not charge more than Rs 600 for the same. Platelets test in private hospitals will cost not cost more than Rs 50.

Jain also emphasised on the fact that action will be taken against chemists selling medicines without a doctor's prescription.

UN report on Sri Lankan war crimes calls for an international level court

The 220-page UN report on Sri Lanka's war crimes called for a 'hybrid' court comprising international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators as an essential step for justice. Released by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the 30th session of the UNHRC, the report found that both, the Lankan armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), committed serious violations during the decades long civil war in the island nation. "A purely domestic court procedure will have no chance of overcoming widespread and justifiable suspicions fuelled by decades of violations, malpractice and broken promises " the report said.

Two Indian nationals have been kidnapped in Tripoli, Libya, on 16 September. One of them belongs to Odisha and the other from Andhra Pradesh. "Our Mission in Tripoli is making further inquiry for confirmation of the incident. The matter has been taken up at diplomatic level," said Vikas Swarup, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. They have been identified as Pravash Ranjan Samal and Ramamurthy Kosanam.

Even as the furore created by the meat ban in Maharashtra and Kashmir begins to subside, a new meat ban is about to take place - in Bangalore. The ban will be enforced by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore's civic body, on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. The notice issued by the head of the animal husbandry department of the BBMP states that the slaughter of animals and sale of meat is banned within BBMP's jurisdiction on the holiday. The assistant director of the animal husbandry department clarified that this was an annual practice, and applied to other festivals such as Maha Shivaratri, Sarvodaya Day, Sri Rama Navami, Ganesh Chaturthi and a few others as well.

Delhi govt rejects Uber's applications to function in the city

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The AAP government in power in Delhi has once again rejected Uber's pleas to be allowed to run cab services in the city. The US-based company had its application rejected for adhering to a previously-imposed ban order on it and not complying with Delhi's rules for cab-services.Uber had previously had a hearing before the government postponed, but even then failed to show up on the set date. The Delhi government, for its part, insists that Uber will not be given a license to operate in the city unless it gives an undertaking to comply with Delhi's new 'City Taxi Scheme'. This comes less than two weeks after the Delhi government rejected Ola's application for the same.

Maharashtra autorickshaw permits only for Marathi-speakers

Maharashtra's transport department is about to issue autorickshaw permits for the first time since 1997, but only to Marathi speakers. But it's not just enough to be a Marathi speaker, eligibility for the permits require applicants to be a minimum of an eighth standard pass and be domicile residents of the state. The transport department is issuing over 1 lakh permits for Mumbai and a handful of other cities including Pune. The move is not limited to the ruling dispensation the BJP. Issuing permits only to Marathi-speakers was an idea mooted as long ago as 2012 by the then NCP-Congress combine in power.

Small tea manufacturers in Assam and West Bengal, who buy green leaves, process and sell them to blenders, have raised their objections to a commerce ministry order directing them to auction 70% of their produce. The manufacturers feel the move will bring down the price of tea, as well as raise the volume of sale against credit. "This order will not only disrupt our direct sales channels which we have built over the years but also lead to a fall in revenue," Sanjay Dhanuti, president of the North Bengal Tea Producers Association, told reporters on Tuesday, 15 September.

Vulnerability to climate change will impact health of population in India: WHO report

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A World Health Organisation (WHO) report last weekend claimed that climate change would result in an additional 250,000 deaths in India from 2030-2050, due to the country's extreme vulnerability to the phenomenon. Ramesh Dhiman of the the National Institute of Malaria Research said at a seminar of 'Climate change and health risks', organised by the French embassy, that the Himalayan region is prone to vector-borne diseases, which will increase in the near future, especially malaria and dengue. On the other hand, Dileep Mavalankar, Director of the Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar, added that heatwaves in the country will also increase in the coming years.